We are going with Seabourn, which leaves on 12/20. We likely will fly into Buenos Aires on 12/19 to be safe. Maybe even a little earlier so we can see some of the city. It looks like we will fly out of Miami. We will fly at least business class. Is there any way to know on what planes the seats lay flat? I have a bad back, so it is a big deal to me. Our plan is to probably fly into Miami in the morning, get a day room at the hotel, and then take the night flight out.

Seabourn apparently only works with hyper-expensive hotels in Buenos Aires, as in around $900 per night. Can anyone recommend a good, safe hotel say in the $250 range per night?

Try the Sheraton Buenos Aires Hotel & Convention Center at San Martin 1225/1275
In Buenos Aires Buenos. Good recommendations in a good area that’s close to your budget. They accept Starwood points and Marriott points can be easily converted to Starwood points, if you have Marriott points to spare.

Originally posted by der110
We are going with Seabourn, which leaves on 12/20. We likely will fly into Buenos Aires on 12/19 to be safe. Maybe even a little earlier so we can see some of the city. It looks like we will fly out of Miami.

Thanks.

IMHO, I would plan on arriving on 12/18 or before so you can see the amazing Buenos Aires city. It also ensures that you are there for the ship’s embarkation on 12/20. If your plane has mechanical issues or there are other schedule delays or weather, you might miss your ship’s departure and be forced to fly or drive to the ship’s next port.
I wouldn’t take the risk but spend an extra day recovering from the flight and enjoying this fun city.
Russ

Thanks, Russ. We will definitely arrive early to be safe. We have not yet figured out how early. Work issues is squeezing us on both sides of the cruise. But arriving on the 18th seems like a good idea.

Whatever airline you are considering, try to determine the equipment being used, i.e. 767, A330, etc.. Look up the airline and the equipment on seatguru and you can see how the seating of the plane is set up.

Last year when we did our Antarctic cruise on the Hurtigruten Fram, we spent two nights pre cruise at the Emparador Hotel. Room cost then was about $200 US per night. This was the hotel the Hurtigruten used for its first night of the cruise. A nice 4* hotel. After our cruise we spent three nights at the Hotel Pulitzer at a cost of about $100 per night. A very nice centrally located 3* hotel which enabled us to do a lot of sightseeing. Both hotels served nice breakfasts, were clean and had English speaking staff. If it were not for the fact Hurtigruten chose the Emparador for its pre cruise lodging, we would have chosen the Pulitzer for both our stays.

We have stayed in Tryp Hotel (twice), Duque Hotel Boutique and Spa, and Howard Johnson Hotel Boutique Recoleta. They are all good and in different areas. We would never stay in the Emperador unless it was part of the itinerary. Awful: overpriced, disorganised and a barn of a place!

Just to follow up, we are currently leaning to the Holiday Inn Express, though the Hilton is still in the running. This is partly driven by risk-averseness and partly by a desire to accumulate and/or use points. I have points with both. Puerto Madero also looked like a good place to stay. Are minds are still open, however. We will be in BA 12/18-12/20.

I’m big on points, but unless I can’t help it (work) I tend to shy away from American hotels in other countries. It may sound very paranoid, but most hotel attacks seem to be on American chains because they’re more expensive, it sends a message, etc. That’s my risk aversion.

In Buenos Aires I stayed in vrbo and loved them. I looked ahead of time and found a good one that looked better than a hotel. Your mileage may vary.

We stayed at AirBnB accommodation before and after our cruise on Hurtigruten's Fram. We did not stay at Emparador Hotel, which Hurtigruten uses, because we didn't like the location and it was expensive. However, we just walked there to check in for flight details, etc.

It is always a good idea to have free days prior to and after flights/cruise to Antarctica. There is no need to stay in expensive accommodation, as there is a lot of inexpensive self contained accommodation available in good safe neighbourhoods.

Although we loved our AirBnB accommodation, I wouldn't recommend staying in that style of accommodation for the first night. Our flight was diverted from Buenos Aires to Montevideo, where we were kept on the tarmac, because there was a storm at BA. There was no way for us to contact the owner who was waiting for us at the accommodation. If we were staying at a hotel, it wouldn't have been a problem to arrive in the early hours of the following day.